Ac 2.1 Flashcards
Define the term social control
Social control refers to any strategies for preventing deviant human behaviour and are actions that attempt to persuade or compel members of society to conform to rules
Identify the forms of social control
Internal Social control
External Social control
Control theory
What is internal social control and the forms of it
Internal social control are things such as our conscience regulating our behaviour (telling us that something is wrong) therefore, forms of internal social control help to regulate our behaviour through self control in accordance to what our conscience believes is an accepted form of behaviour
Rational ideology
Tradition
Internalisation of social rules and morality
What is rational ideology
Rational ideology is a form of internal social control, this is an idea or belief to achieve social control. Your conscience, with feelings of guilt, anxiety or worry from within will guide you to reach a solution or follow laws and rules
What is tradition
Tradition is a form of internal social control, Traditions, customs or norms that ensure you as a person conform to the rules, religion, cultural or upbringing also ensure you do not break the law and follow rules.
What is internalisation of social rules and morality
Internalisation of social rules and morality is working out what is the right thing to do and therefore knowing what the rights and wrongs are based on social values for example our social values tell us that cheating in an exam is wrong
What is external social control and the forms of external social ctonrol
External pressures persuade or compel members of society to conform to the laws for example your teachers setting you a detention for not doing your homework this is to ensure you do not do this again and follow the rules of doing and handing in your homework another example of external social control is parents grounding you when you break any rules your parents have in place again same principle to ensure you do not break the rule again
The Police, judges and prisons are also the most evident agents of social external control as the presence of the police may ensure the vast majority of people behave, and those who do commit crimes are arrested by the police under the PACE act, if charges are faced then the other organisations such as as courts and prisons will attempt to bring methods such as coercion and fear of punishment to ensure people abide by the law
The forms of external social control are Coercion, Fear of Punishment
What is Coercion
Coercion is the use of force to achieve a desired end, Coercion may be physical or non violent.
Physical coercion can take place of bodily injury, imprisonment and in some countries the death penalty
Non physical coercion consists of strike, boycott and non-cooperation.
What is fear of punishment
The use of punishment as a threat to stop people from offending/ re offending is called deterrence. Deterrence has two key assumptions,
- Individual Deterrence
- General Deterrence
What is individual deterrence is the punishment imposed on offenders in order to deter or prevent the induvidual from committing further crimes, for example a suspended prison sentence or conditional discharge
individual deterrence is the punishment imposed on offenders in order to deter or prevent them from committing further crimes, for example a suspended prison sentence or conditional discharge
What is General deterrence
General deterrence is the fear of punishment that prevents others from committing similar crimes for example a lengthy prisons sentence or heavy financial penalties these allow others to see the consequences and can be deterred from committing the same crime.
There are policies that do promote general deterrence which is known as “getting tough on crime”
these policies include mandatory minimums which is a life sentence for murder, 7 years for third drug offences.
Three stirkes and you are out- third conviction for a violent crime is likely to be punishable by life sentence (In USA)
What is control theory
Explains why people do not commit crimes.
Support the view that people require nurturing in order to develop attachments and bonds that are key in producing internal controls such as conscience, according to this theory a lack of attachment and commitment is why people commit crime
